by Tom Lisanti

I interviewed former 60s starlet Salli Sachse about 12 years ago for my first book Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema.  Her name may not be familiar, but to fans of American International Pictures’ series of beach movies her face is easily recognizable.  With her waist-long honey brown hair and adorable smile, Salli, literally plucked off the beach in San Diego, appeared in almost every beach party film beginning with Muscle Beach Party (1964) through The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966) and everything else in between including Bikini Beach (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965). 

Recalling her time with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, Salli remarked, "Frankie and Annette were very easy going and a pleasure to work with but they weren’t real beach people.  Frankie was raised in Philadelphia so I don’t think he ever saw a surfboard in his life!  And Annette refused to wear a bikini.  She would only wear a one-piece but I think that had something to do with her contract with Walt Disney.  Annette was such a straight girl—a good Italian Catholic.  Because we grew up on the beach, a lot of us thought we were so cool compared to Frankie and Annette.  I remember that on one movie we were filming some beach scenes late in the afternoon.  It was really chilly and we were fighting the light.  Wrapped in terry cloth robes, a group of us huddled together to keep warm.  Carl the prop man handed us a bottle of brandy.  We were surprised when Annette took a couple of swigs.  She got a bit tipsy and was clowning around.  It was the only time I ever saw her let herself go wild.”

When the beach films became passe during the turbulent late sixties, Salli graduated to playing a drag strip groupie in Fireball 500 (1966) to a biker chick in Devil’s Angels (1967) to her most famous role as the LSD freak-out girl opposite Peter Fonda in The Trip (1967) to playing a hippie paramour of rock star Christopher Jones in Wild in the Streets (1968). Unfortunately, along the way there was heartbreak when her husband Peter Sachse tragically died in a plane crash in 1966 while Salli was in Hong Kong filming The Million Eyes of Su-Muru.

Salli chucked her movie career in 1969 to concentrate on modeling then photography then studying art in Europe during the seventies.  Returning to the U.S., she earned a Masters in Psychology and became a counselor for "at risk" teens.

In August 2006 Salli was reunited with beach party regulars the late Mary Hughes, Patti Chandler, and Linda Opie for a photo shoot celebrating surf culture in the 1950s and 1960s for Vanity Fair. Below is a photo taken by Salli's friend while visiting the shoot. Pictured are Mary, Salli, Patti and Linda. 

Today Salli Sachse has a new web site where fans can peruse pictures of Salli from her Hollywood and modeling days or purchase her beautiful art work. And she is currently working on her memoir, which should prove to be a very interesting read.

Click here to order Fantasy Femmes of 60s Cinema from Amazon

Visit Tom Lisanti's retro web site www.sixtiescinema.com

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If you came of age during the Sixties, you may well remember the name Lada Edmund, Jr.  who was one of the original gyrating, mini-skirted go-go girls who danced in a cage on NBC-TV’s music program, Hullabaloo 1965-66.  Similar to ABC’s Shindig, Hullabaloo featured a different celebrity host each week to introduce some of the most popular musical performers of the day.  However, the show received most of its press not for the rock groups or vocalists that guest starred but for Lada and fellow dancers who bumped, grinded and twisted their way into the homes of teenagers every week.  So popular was she that she landed on the cover of TV Guide magazine.

Before she found TV fame, Lada began her career dancing on Broadway. She was one of the original dancers in the 1960 Tony Award winning musical Bye Bye Birdie with Dick Van Dyke, Chita Rivera and Paul Lynde. When rock star Conrad Birdie is drafted, his manager randomly selects high schooler Kim MacAfee from Sweet Apple, Ohio for Conrad to give his final goodbye kiss to on The Ed Sullivan Show before he goes off to the military. Lada played Penelope Ann, one of Kim’s friends and one of the many hysterical fans of the singing idol.  With the first Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie starring John Stamos and Gina Gershon scheduled to open in October, Lada has been invited to return to Sweet Apple, Ohio as a special guest and will be visiting backstage soon.

Besides dancing on stage (including productions of West Side Story and Promises, Promises) and TV, Lada shimmied across the big screen in the beach flick For Those Who Think Young (1964) starring James Darren, Pamela Tiffin and Nancy Sinatra.  She then went dramatic in the moonshine movie The Devil’s 8 (1968) and the coming-of-age drama Out of It (1969) starring Jon Voight in his first starring role, though it was released after he found fame in Midnight Cowboy. During the Seventies, she became a stuntwoman in Hollywood and performed death defying feats in films including Smokey and the Bandit (1977) starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Field, and classic TV shows such as Charlie's Angels and Starsky and Hutch. 

Out of the spotlight for years working as a personal trainer in New Jersey (I tried to locate her for my Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood book without any luck), Lada (now known as Lada St. Edmund) has re-surfaced and has launched a comeback.  She is available for interviews through her publicist Walter Newkirk @ newkirkpr@aol.com. 

Tom Lisanti has co-written with former 60s actress Gail Gerber her memoir Trippin’ with Terry Southern: What I Think I Remember. Visit his website www.sixtiescinema.com for more information.

 

 

By Tom Lisanti

Jody McCrea, the son of Joel McCrea, passed away earlier this month. He was primarily known for his roles in cult films. In this excerpt from his book, Cinema Retro columnist pays tribute to McCrea's career. 

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Tall, strapping, square-jawed Jody McCrea who became a favorite of teenage audiences during the Sixties for his amusing performances as “Deadhead” in the series of Beach Party (1963) movies starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello passed away on April 4 of this year.  As the dumb surfer in the bunch, Deadhead could be counted on to say something idiotic in his slow drawl.  Though McCrea was always assured a laugh based on how the role was written, it is to his credit that Deadhead came off as sweetly naïve rather than a complete moron.
Jody McCrea was born on September 6, 1934 in Los Angeles.  His father was western star Joel McCrea and his mother was the underrated actress Frances Dee.  As a child, Jody along with his brother David worked the 2300 acres of ranch that his father bought in the San Fernando Valley.  The boys toiled in the bean fields, and per his interview with TV Guide, it was Jody’s early ambition to become “the greatest bean-hoer in the State of California.”  While attending the New Mexico Military Institute, Jody visited his dad on the set of the movie Lone Hand.  Though surrounded by show business his whole young life, it was on this set that the acting bug finally bit him. 
McCrea studied drama at UCLA and began taking acting lessons on the side.  He made an uncredited appearance in Lucy Gallant (1955) but his official debut was playing Lt. Baker in the western The First Texan (1956) starring his father, Joel McCrea, as Sam Houston.  Jody would go on to work with his dad in other westerns including Trooper Hook (1957) and Gunsight Ridge (1957).  McCrea’s first significant part was playing Tim Hitchcock in the William Wellman-directed bio flick, Lafayette Escadrille (1958) starring Tab Hunter as the famous French flying legion of WWI.
Television fans discovered Jody McCrea when he teamed up with his dad to star in the western series Wichita Town during the 1959-60 season.  Joel McCrea played the town marshal and his son was cast as his deputy.  The series unfortunately was saddled with a bad time slot following the weepy This Is Your Life so when the show’s sponsor pulled out the series was cancelled.  He returned to the big screen playing supporting roles in low budget comedies and westerns including Young Guns of Texas (1963) featuring second generation actors (such as James Mitchum and Alana Ladd) in leading roles.
The WWII adventure Operation Bikini (1963) was Jody McCrea’s first pairing with Frankie Avalon and movie for American International Pictures.  He was cast next as Deadhead in Beach Party the same year.  When that movie broke box office records for the independent company, McCrea was coaxed back to reprise the role of the dumb surfer supporting Frankie and Annette in Muscle Beach Party (1964) and Bikini Beach (1964).  Due to his popularity with the teenage audience McCrea progressed to second lead in Pajama Party (1964) playing Annette Funicello’s boyfriend who prefers volleyball to romance.  McCrea was finally able to shine and received good reviews for his performance.
Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) also gave McCrea a chance to do some real emoting as his character now renamed Bonehead falls in love with a mermaid played by Marta Kristen of Lost in Space fame.  He received positive reviews such as in the Los Angeles Times whose critic remarked, “Jody McCrea…handles the comedy as a kooky beach bum on whom the sun really shines.”  Regarding his popularity playing a doltish surfer, McCrea told Newsday, “It took me four pictures to figure it out—the kids liked Deadhead because they felt superior to me, to him.”  However, McCrea was getting disillusioned with the beach movies due to the fact he was afraid that he would be typecast.  After How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965) wrapped, affable Jody McCrea was determined to shake his Bonehead persona. 
The western Stagecoach to Nowhere based on Oedipus Rex was supposed to be McCrea’s next movie but it was never produced.  Instead, the tall, broad-shouldered actor was perfectly cast as a rambunctious racecar driver in The Girls from Thunder Strip (1966) and a hardened biker in The Glory Stompers (1967) co-starring Dennis Hopper and Chris Noel.  The latter was co-produced by McCrea.

By Tom Lisanti

To get in a warm weather mood with summer not approaching fast enough, here is a look at Hollywood surf movies from a different and albeit biased perspective.  Gay men are always looking for gay subtext in movies and TV, and I am no exception.  Am I reading more into these films? Probably—but it was sure a lot of fun doing the research.

The Sixties beach movie craze began with Gidget (1959) starring Sandra Dee and James Darren, a fictionalized look at teenager Kathy Kohner’s surfing escapades in Malibu during the mid-Fifties.  It was groundbreaking as the movie contributed to the mass dissention of surfers on the beaches of Malibu and started a series of surf-theme films such as Gidget Goes Hawaiian and Ride the Wild Surf.  The surf movie soon morphed into the beach-party film, whose heyday was from 1963 through 1965, where surfing was only used as a backdrop to fanciful teenage beach adventures.  Beach Party from AIP starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello launched Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.  Soon other studios were releasing their own Beach Party rivals such as Surf Party, The Girls on the Beach, and Beach Ball.  Some of these films varied from the formula by shifting the locale to a lake (A Swingin’ Summer) or the ski slopes (Ski Party, Winter a-Go-Go, Wild Wild Winter).  These movies for the most part followed a successful simple formula—start with attractive swimsuit clad teenagers twisting on the sand, add a dash of surfing (or ski) footage, mix in romantic misunderstandings, stir in popular musical performers, add aging comedians for comic relief, and whisk in villainous bikers or predatory adults. 

Gay subtext crept into a few of the beach-party movies giving these films camp appeal today.  Discounting the obvious fact that these sand-and-surf epics were titillation for homosexual men of the time, as good looking shirtless movie hunks such as Jody McCrea, Fabian, Aron Kincaid, James Stacy, and Peter Brown frolic on the sand bare-chested in swim trunks and on the slopes in tight ski pants.  Or that gay actors such as Tab Hunter, Tommy Kirk, and Paul Lynde appeared in these movies, there were other factors that probably were not obvious back in the Sixties.  Either a director or screenwriter may have tried to slip in with a wink and a nudge to the homosexual community in an unassuming way that made it past the oblivious producers and censors. 

The most obvious example is Muscle Beach Party (1964) featuring a clean-cut group of surfers versus a cult of bodybuilders headed by Don Rickles' Jack Fanny.  During the Fifties and Sixties, the public automatically associated bodybuilding with homosexuality because muscle men of the time appeared as objects of desire wearing posing briefs or sometimes nothing at all in physique magazines whose readers were mostly gay men.  Writing on the subject, film historian Joan Ormond commented, “Homosexuality in this era was regarded as potentially more damaging to society as the wild antics of surfers.”  Hence, the bodybuilders of Muscle Beach Party whom seem to enjoy the company of each other rather than any of the bikini girls on the shore are seen as the bad guys along the lines of Eric Von Zipper’s motorcycle gang of Beach Party as they are out to corrupt the youth of America.

Cinema Retro columnist Tom Lisanti has paired with actress Gail Gerber to write her fascinating autobiography that details her experiences in Hollywood as a young starlet in the 1960s as well as her career as a writer and Terry Southern's longtime companion. The book, Trippin' With Terry Southern, is due out in June. Here is an excerpt:

Hollywood, summer of 1964.  I had been living in California for almost a year now and still felt like a fish out of water.  Growing up in Canada where I studied ballet from the time I was a small child, Los Angeles was mystifying to me with its palm trees, bright sunlight forever contrasting with the deep shade, and its superficial inhabitants.  But I readily admit I was sort of a snob myself and didn’t know much about the actors or directors I came in contact with. Petite blondes like Sandra Dee were the reigning young actresses of the time but I couldn’t tell a Sandra Dee from a Tuesday Weld from a Connie Stevens.  They were all one big yellow-haired blur to me.  And forget about pop music—the minute The Beach Boys or Connie Francis would come on the radio I’d reach for the dial in a mad rush so as not to hear their insipid songs.  The dance and jazz worlds were where my interests and background lay. 

Arriving in town with my unwarranted bias and without knowing a soul, I had done pretty well for myself, or so I thought, in a short period of time.  I had a leading role in a play, two featured movie roles albeit in teenage B-movies, and had done a few guest TV shots.  I knew it wasn’t solely my acting talent that was landing me roles.  I was a pretty blonde with a shapely figure that looked good in a bikini and wasn’t afraid to show it off, which helped me tremendously.  It didn’t bother me in the bit, unlike actresses who I regularly came in contact with, that wanted to be known for their talent rather than their looks.

In August 1964 I found myself back on the MGM lot, after working there previously in the Elvis Presley musical Girl Happy, auditioning for a cameo role as an airport information girl in a big major production.  I was very excited.  The movie was The Loved One based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh and directed by Tony Richardson who was the hot director at this time.  Part of that British “New Wave” of directors in the late Fifties, Richardson directed such well-received movies as Look Back in Anger (1958), A Taste of Honey (1961), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) and the hit bawdy comedy Tom Jones (1963).  The Loved One was his second U.S. production.

I interviewed with associate producer Neil Hartley, the boyfriend of Richardson who was bi-sexual though married to actress Vanessa Redgrave since 1962.  Folks in Hollywood used to joke that Tony only wed Vanessa because he could fit into her clothes.  It seemed that every aspiring young actress auditioned for the part but they gave it to platinum blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield whose career was on the down slope.  This didn’t help as her scene was left on the cutting room floor and didn’t make it into the final print.  As a sort of consolation for not getting that role, I was hired to appear as one of the decorative background cosmeticians working at the funeral parlor with the film’s leading lady, Anjanette Comer. Little did I know that this would forever change my life.

The Loved One starred Robert Morse, who looked adorable with his shaggy Beatles haircut, as the young British poet named Dennis Barlow newly arrived in Hollywood to visit his upper crust uncle (John Gielgud) who shortly thereafter commits suicide when he is unceremoniously fired from the movie studio he has worked at for over thirty years.  Barlow then is given the responsibility of the burial arrangements and is led by his uncle’s pompous friend (Robert Morley) to the ornate Whispering Glades funeral parlor foundered by the Blessed Reverned Glenworthy (Jonanthan Winters).  He falls in love with one of the cosmeticians named Aimee Thanatogenos (Comer) a strange girl who fantasizes about death and lives in a condemned house on stilts in the Hollywood Hills.  But their blossoming romance is complicated by head embalmer Mr. Joyboy (Rod Steiger), a rival for the charms of Miss Thanatogenous and Barlow’s humiliating job at a pet cemetery, which he tries to keep a secret. When all the men in Aimee’s life let her down—Barlow’s occupation is revealed, Joyboy deserts her, Glenworthy proves to be a lecherous phony, and the Guru Brahmin (Lionel Stander), whom she writes to for advice turns out to be a drunkard—she commits suicide by embalming herself.

A number of actors make cameo appearances including James Coburn as a customs inspector, Tab Hunter as a tour guide, Roddy McDowall as a movie studio executive, Liberace as a coffin salesman, and most hilariously Milton Berle and Margaret Leighton as a battling Beverly Hills couple whose dog has died.

My scenes were set at Whispering Glades Funeral Parlor, which took weeks to shoot, and were filmed on location in the extensive gardens and interiors of a lavish estate called Greystone located on Sunset Boulevard.  It was the former residence of multimillionaire Edward Laurence Doheny II.  I worked mainly with Anjanette Comer, Rod Steiger, and Pamela Curran.  Anjanette never spoke to me or any of the other girls playing small roles.  Since she had the leading role, I think she thought we were beneath her and not worth her time. She was also busy learning her lines.

I remember hanging around doing nothing my first day on the set.  On the second day it seemed it was going to be a repeat of the day before.  I was sitting around earning more money than I ever did as a ballet dancer so I really couldn’t complain.  There was a whole bunch of us getting paid just to show up.  I was all decked out in the same costume as Anjanette, a tight form-fitting white dress with a matching veil, but with absolutely nothing to do but to just sit there and wait in the hot August sun.  I spotted a nice shady chair in a quiet spot and made a beeline for it, thinking I could pass the time over there.   A crew guy saw my lightning move and said, “That one’s a dancer.”  Terry Southern overheard and saw me.  He came over and introduced himself as the film’s screenwriter.  He was very slim at this time and was wearing his trademark dark sunglasses with a cup of coffee in one hand and his script in the other.  I thought, “Oh, great. Another old guy is hitting on me.” 

 

Regarding David Savage's report earlier today on our web site about tomorrow's New York City screening of The Poseidon Adventure hosted by drag queen Hedda Lettuce, comes Retro columnist Tom Lisanti's perspective:

Drag legend Hedda Lettuce hosts a tribute screening to the granddaddy of all disaster movies The Poseidon Adventure (1972) this  Saturday night, January 24, 10 P.M. at Clearview Chelsea Theatres on 23rd Street and 8th Avenue in New York. Forget the atrocious remakes, this is the one to see!

 

As everyone knows by now it is New Year's Eve on the SS Poseidon when just after the stroke of midnight a huge tidal wave causes the ship to go topsy turvy and a small band of survivors must climb, crawl, swim their way to the bottom now the top of the ship.  Hip preacher Gene Hackman leads to safety a ragtag band of stereotypes including tough talking cop Ernest Borgnine and his foul-mouthed ex-prostitute panties-wearing only wife Stella Stevens; an old Jewish couple Shelley Winters and Jack Albertson; helpless hippie singer Carol Lynley; lonely bachelor Red Buttons; injured steward Roddy McDowall; and two kids Pamela Sue Martin and Eric Shea. The fun of course is that most don't make it.

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I saw this movie at the Westbury Drive-in on Long Island for my 12th birthday on May 11, 1973.  The movie was such a hit that it was still playing theatres 5 months after it opened in December 1972.  I was totally mesmerized by this movie.  What stayed with me for days that turned to weeks that turned to years was the scene of the ship turning upside down and the lovely Carol Lynley bedecked in hot pants and go-go boots as Nonnie.  For some reason I identified with her most because of all the survivors she couldn't swim (I am a weak swimmer myself) and showed the most fear as I imagined I would in such a situation. 

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I interviewed Carol Lynley about the movie and it seems her on screen fear was not all acting: 

“The only way to describe working on The Poseidon Adventure is hellish.  I spent close to four months dripping wet wearing the same dirty clothes.  To make matters even worse, I have a tremendous fear of heights.  I had it all my life.  I usually get very dizzy and throw up.  Not attractive.  I even went to Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio to try to conquer it.  Usually a stunt double is used but in The Poseidon Adventure I had to do all my stunts myself.  We would shoot the scenes high up on the catwalks or ladders and when the director would yell ‘cut’ all the other actors would climb down except me.  Gene Hackman’s brother was working on the film as a stunt coordinator and he would have to climb up and help me down!” 

Visit Tom's Web site: www.sixtiescinema.com

BY TOM LISANTI

“Hi, I’m Plenty,” said Lana Wood to Sean Connery’s James Bond at the gaming tables of Las Vegas in Diamonds Are Forever (1971).  “Plenty O’Toole.”  Glancing at her cleavage, Bond wittily deadpanned, “But of course you are.”  With this small exchange audiences were introduced to one of the most popular Bond girls to ever hit the screen.  As Plenty, Lana Wood was finally able to step out of the shadow of her sister Natalie Wood.  On screen for only a few scenes, she almost steals the movie with her amusing performance and remains forever remembered for this role.  “Isn’t that bizarre,” exclaims Wood with a laugh.  “I’m only in the movie for three minutes! 

Lana Wood was born Svetlana Zacharenko Gurdin in Santa Monica, California.  She followed her older sister into the acting profession and made her film debut at eight years old in John Ford’s classic western The Searchers (1956).  Wood received good notices and went on to appear in a few television dramas with Jack Lemmon and Charlton Heston, among others.  But unlike Natalie, Lana didn’t want to act as a child and she waited until she was eighteen before re-starting her career with an episode of Dr. Kildare.  More alluring and voluptuous than Natalie, Lana found herself typed cast in sexpot roles.  After playing a coed in The Girls on the Beach (1965), Wood was signed to play sexy Eula Harker in the short-lived soap opera The Long, Hot Summer (1965-66).  When the series was cancelled midway through its first season, 20th Century-Fox immediately moved Lana Wood into their hit soap opera Peyton Place.  As Sandy Webber, a slinky temptress from the wrong side of the tracks, Wood was an immediate hit with the viewers and played the role for close to two years.

After playing a swinging bachelorette in For Singles Only (1968) and a mini-skirted biker babe in Free Grass (1969), Wood posed semi-nude for Playboy magazine.  Her pictorial appeared in the April 1971 issue along accompanied by some of her poetry.  These photos indirectly helped Wood land her most famous role of Plenty O’Toole.   “I didn’t have to audition per se for this role,” recalls Lana.  “My dear friend [writer] Tom Mankiewicz told me that Cubby Broccoli was looking for an actress to play this character named Plenty O’Toole.  Tom thought I would be perfect for it.  He asked me if I would meet with Cubby.  I said, ‘Absolutely!’  I was en route to do a movie called A Place Called Today in New York.  Before leaving for that, I went in to chat with Cubby who was adorable!  I tried to look as tall as humanly possible because Tom had told me that they were thinking of Plenty O’Toole as this giant of a woman in every way.  For me that wasn’t easy—I’m only five feet, four inches—but those were the days of hot pants and really high heels. I didn’t hear anything until I started filming the other picture.  I was thrilled to get the part!”

In Diamonds Are Forever (1971), secret agent James Bond (Sean Connery) is assigned to pose as a diamond smuggler, leading him and jewel thief Tiffany Case (Jill St. John), from Amsterdam to Las Vegas, in pursuit of fifty thousand carats of diamonds.  Bond meets bar girl Plenty O’Toole and her cleavage at a crap tables in a Vegas casino.  After introducing herself to Bond who has been winning he takes her up to his room.  Their tryst is interrupted as thugs try to kill Bond and toss Plenty out the fifteen-story window.  (“We filmed this at night.  I was topless.  The crowd got a nice view of me in nothing but a pair of pale blue panties.”)  Fortunately, Plenty lands in the hotel’s pool.  Unfortunately, a short time later she is discovered murdered and floating face down in Tiffany’s pool.

Remembering working with Sean Connery, Lana remarks, “He is very charming and attentive. He was very relaxed and was very easy to work with.  As long as we did things in a rapid pace so he could get out to golf then he was fine.  But I had no problems working with Sean at all.  Later on we heard that he was battling with the producers during the shoot.  If that was true it wasn’t in front of the cast or crew.”  Lana also admits to having a brief “interlude” with her sexy leading man.

With the special edition DVD release, fans got to see a number of Wood’s scenes that were excised from the final print due to “running time.”  One shows the sexual attraction growing between Bond and Plenty as they dine before going up to his hotel room and another featured Plenty sneaking back into Bond’s room only to find him in bed with Tiffany.  “I was flabbergasted that they cut all this out,” exclaims Lana.  “I didn’t even realize it until I had come back from a world tour to promote the film.  I went to the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to watch it with a friend because I was so busy I never had time to see it.  I literally bent over to get some popcorn as the thugs threw me out the window and by the time I had straightened up my character was dead.  I thought, ‘Wow, all of a sudden I have this little part.’  I actually asked why they cut most of my scenes and I was told that they didn’t have much relevance to the plot.”  Not so.  These missing scenes finally explain how and why Plenty O’Toole is found murdered in Tiffany Case’s swimming pool wearing her wig.  The assassins mistook her for Tiffany and killed her. 

It was foolish to cut these scenes and considering how much better Wood was in the movie than Jill St. John who clad in an ill-fitting bikini throughout most of the movie gives a shrill performance (though the overrated redhead incredulously keeps making the Top 10 Bond Girls of all-time polls), the producers probably kicked themselves for shortening Wood’s screen time.

- Read more about Bond girls and other spy chicks in Tom Lisanti’s Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962-1973 (co-authored by Louis Paul) available at www.sixtiescinema.com. .

The independent feature Lucky Days had its New York premiere recently at the Coney Island Film Festival, where it was awarded the coveted Best Feature prize. The auditorium was packed and amongst the audience was many of the film’s stars including Angelica Page Torn, Rip Torn, Luke Zarzecki, Federico Castelluccio, Marilyn Sokol, Tom Wolfe, and Gail Gerber who all came on stage to field questions from the audience afterwards.

Lucky Days is an entertaining comedy-drama slice of life beautifully filmed on location in Coney Island capturing the essence of the area as we know it now before real estate developers move in soon to change the landscape. Angelica Page Torn, who wrote the screenplay and co-directed with her brother Tony Torn, gives a tour-de-force performance as Virginia a sad thirtysomething woman trapped living with her needy mother (the hysterical Sokol) and drug-addled stripper sister (Tina Benko) with four daughters while hoping to finally receive an engagement ring after 18 years from her Italian boyfriend Vincent (Castelluccio who is excellent as the bullying goomba).  But a fortuitous encounter with her childhood sweetheart (the charming Zarzecki), who wants to see his brother (Will Patton) a patient in the psyche ward where Virginia works, opens her eyes to discover the secreted truths about her pathetic family and the abusive two-timing Vincent during the last summer weekend in Coney Island.  Also in the cast are Anne Jackson miscast as Vincent’s disapproving mother, Tom Wolfe as one of the many Coney Island denizens who help hide Vincent’s cheating ways from Virginia, Gail Gerber delightful as a crazy patient infatuated with Patton, and Rip Torn in a cameo as Vincent’s put-upon father.

(Visit the film's official web site)

After the successful screening, some of the cast with friends strolled along the misty boardwalk heading to Tatiana Restaurant in Brighton Beach for a Russian dinner and to celebrate the excellent reaction the film received from the audience. (All photos courtesy of Ernie DeLia)

VISIT TOM LISANTI'S RETRO WEB SITE AT WWW.SIXTIESCINEMA.COM

Former Sixties starlet and writer Terry Southern’s longtime companion Gail Gerber a.k.a. Gail Gilmore, whose films include Girl Happy, Beach Ball, Village of the Giants, and Harum Scarum, returns to the silver screen on Saturday 27, 2008 in Lucky Days co-directed, written and starring Angelica Page Torn (daughter of Geraldine Page and Rip Torn) screening at the Coney Island Film Festival in Brooklyn, NY. Click here  for more information. 

 

Last seen on the big screen playing a pot-smoking high school student in End of the Road (1970), Gail has a small role as a dotty old lady who encounters Torn's lonely woman during the last summer days of Coney Island's famed amusement park. The impressive cast also includes Frederico Castelluccio, Luke Zarzecki (pictured with Torn), Will Patton, Anne Jackson, Marilyn Sokol, and Rip Torn.

 

Look for Gail’s memoir Terry Southern and Me: Uneasy Riders in Hollywood co-written by yours truly next year.  Gail dishes about the her life with the free spirited writer, what went on behind the scenes of her own movies and Terry’s including The Loved One, The Cincinnati Kid, Easy Rider, Casino Royale, The Magic Christian, and Candy, and what life was like during Terry’s “exile” from Hollywood during the Seventies and Eighties.  For more information on Gail, visit The Gail Gerber Fan Gallery

 

-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com

 

Carol Lynley fans rejoice!  Warner Bros. is finally releasing to DVD the long overdue The Shuttered Room (1967) starring Carol, Gig Young, and Oliver Reed.  In this H.P. Lovecraft inspired spine tingler, Lynley is convincingly scared throughout as the terrorized heroine who returns to her place of birth with her older citified hubby (Young) to claim an old millhouse complete with a hideous thing in the attic and a lascivious punk cousin (Reed) with an eye for blondes who wants to keep it in the family so to speak.  Creepy music, excellent cinematography including POV shots from the mysterious house guest, and Carol never lovelier or vulnerable make for a suspenseful time.

 

The Shuttered Room will have an anamorphic widescreen transfer and as an added bonus it is being paired as a double feature on DVD with It! (1966) starring Jill Haworth as an innocent young girl lusted after by disturbed museum curator Roddy McDowall who (a la Norman Bates) keeps his mummified mommy around the house.  If that’s not bad enough, he brings to life a Hebrew statue called the Golem and uses it to do away with his enemies.
 

When asked about It! for my book Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema, saucy Jill quipped, “I only did this film because I needed the money. I hated everything about this movie—particularly what they did to my hair.  They gave me an atrocious hairstyle for it.  But I did like Roddy McDowall. He was very nice to work with.  And with Roddy, what you see is what you got. He even brought me the poster for It! on the opening night of Cabaret [the original Broadway musical where Jill played Sally Bowles].  I couldn’t believe they were going to release it.  He signed it and put an S-h before the It!  This film really was a piece of shit.”

The double feature DVD will retail for $19.98 and will be available at Best Buy only.

-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com

During the 1960’s, beautiful Chinese actress Irene Tsu played a variety of “native” girls in a number of popular drive-in films including Sword of Ali Baba, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, and Paradise, Hawaiian Style with Elvis.  Tsu had poise and talent, which was noticed by producer/writer Arthur C. Pierce who cast her as a space traveler in Women of the Prehistoric Planet.  It was her first starring role.  She then played a South Vietnamese spy in The Green Berets, John Wayne’s homage to our boys in Vietnam before becoming part of the spy boom.  She portrayed a geisha girl in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. feature The Karate Killers and a fashion model in the secret agent spoof Caprice starring Doris Day. 

 

But the one role that got away from her was the part of Maily in The Sand Pebbles starring Steve McQueen.  The heartache of losing the part almost made her quit the business.  She was director Robert Wise’s first choice for Maily in his epic film but studio machinations kept her from getting the role.  Commenting in my book Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema, Irene Tsu recalled, “I interviewed with Robert Wise a few times and he set up an expensive screen test for me on a massive set with other actors.  I thought I did very well but then weeks went by with no word.  I went to see Wise and he told me he wanted me for the part but the producers overruled him.  They gave the part to Marayat Andriane who was rumored to be Fox head Darryl Zanuck’s current mistress.  When I found out I burst into tears and hoped never to have to go through something like that again.” 

Though Irene was devastated, she wound up with a contract with 20th Century-Fox because “I had to sign with them before they allowed the screen test.  For a short time I was treated like a star of the Golden Age.  They gave me my own dressing room that was as big as a house.  I even had my own parking space.  Unfortunately, after only one film the studio went bankrupt.  My contract was dropped along with all other such commitments Fox had.” Undeterred, Irene kept working vigorously.  The 1970’s saw Irene mature into a more than fine actress as she progressed from exotic parts to playing doctors, lawyers, and scientists in both film and television.  And she is still active today.

-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com

CLICK HERE TO ORDER TOM'S BOOK FANTASY FEMMES OF SIXTIES CINEMA FROM AMAZON

CLICK HERE TO READ CINEMA RETRO'S REVIEW OF THE SPECIAL RESTORED DVD EDITION OF THE SAND PEBBLES

Cinema Retro continues to shine the spotlight on worthwhile independent films. Tom Lisanti interviews David Youse, one of the stars of the new movie The Neighbor starring Matthew Modine.

Busy character actor David Youse is co-starring with Matthew Modine, one of the most charming underrated actors who came onto the Hollywood scene in the mid-Eighties, and French actress Michèle Laroque in a new romantic comedy called The Neighbor. Directed by Eddie O’Flagherty (whose previous film was Fighting Tommy Riley) and based on the French TV movie Mon voisin du dessus, it is a tale of a high-powered real estate developer (Laroque), who with her equally snobbish wheeler-dealer fiancé (Ed Quinn), purchase a condo with the intention of evicting the upstairs tenant (Modine) so they can expand into a duplex. Only problem is—he won’t leave. Youse plays Modine’s former best friend who is about to marry his ex-wife (Meredith Scott Lynn). When he gets an invite to the nuptials, Modine puts aside his war games with Laroque and makes a deal with her to give up rights to his apartment in return for her to be his hot date to upstage the bride and groom. Of course, unexpected sparks will fly between the disputing neighbors as they get to know each other away from the battle ground of the condo.

David Youse is hugely entertaining as the fumbling groom-to-be in The Neighbor. An accomplished actor of stage, film, and TV, Youse has appeared in a variety of genres. A familiar face to viewers of the defunct UPN network, he turned up on practically all their sitcoms including Living Single, Unhappily Ever After, and Sister, Sister plus appearances on Murphy Brown and Ellen, among others. Star Trek fans remember him as one of the religious zealots who take over the star ship in “Chosen Realm” on Enterprise; soap watchers know him for his recurring role as Father Kelly on Days of Our Lives; and gay romantic comedy fans remember him as one of Matt McGrath’s blind dates from hell in The Broken Hearts Club.

What drew you to the role of the ex-best friend in The Neighbor?

When I first read the script, I fell for the comedy. Comedy is a very tricky thing. You have to have the timing down and it has to be honest. And to rehearse that comedy, to get it right, that is what drew me to The Neighbor. Knowing that I could have the chance to rehearse, work and eventually shoot comedy, with such fine actors like Matthew Modine, Michele Laroque (french comic genius) and Meredith Scott Lynn, I jumped at that chance.

What do you think you did in your reading that made you stand out?

I remember it was a rainy Friday about 5 PM and I was not in a very good mood. Director Eddie O'Flaherty and Producer Michel Rampal were holding the auditions. The process was going extremely slow. A few name actors were there and I thought I didn't have a chance. So I just went in, without nerves, took my time and just nailed it. I remember Eddie looking at me for a moment and he didn't say a word. I asked, "Like that?" He said something like, "Um, yeah, great. Let’s do the next scene." I did it. He busted up laughing and said, "Great, thank you." I remember asking then, "Do you need to see it another way?" and he said, “No.” I left and just thought he'll hire some one else with name recognition. But I knew I nailed it.

How was it working with Matthew Modine?

Wow. To get the chance to work with an actor that has consistently put out some amazing work and that is so respected among his peers was a blast. Matthew, to me, is child-like, fun, silly, playful, yet intelligent, wise and so grounded in who he is, that it makes working with him an absolute delight. I spent a few hours with him and Eddie the weekend before we were to start shooting. We rehearsed at the house where Matthew was living at the time and we got to know each other as best as we could in the 4 or 5 hours that we spent. We play best friends in the film and Eddie really wanted to see that relationship come through in the film. So after the initial hellos and coffee and tea that Matthew made for us, we started rehearsing what we call the Dentist scene. Running around, physical comedy and we arranged his furniture to look like the office. We had a great time, trying new things, laughing a lot and Matthew sharing some personal stories about his life—a great guy.

Was it a pleasant set to work on?

Oh, absolutely. What a pleasure to get up in the morning and be happy to go to work. To spend the day with Michele Laroque, laughing, and Matthew playing jokes, I mean, come on. The entire crew was so helpful and nice. Everyone just worked hard and had a great time. We shot the film in 25 days.

What do you think makes The Neighbor stand apart from other romantic comedies of this ilk?

Well, I have to say that it's nice to see the woman in a position of financial power and guy trying to understand what's going on with himself, emotionally. That I think is the key. Here is a character, whose life is falling apart, his business is going down the tubes, his best friend is marrying his ex-wife and his neighbor is trying to evict him. And that's the guy! She holds the strings. He doesn't and that's nice to watch it play out in reverse.

Do you prefer playing these fumbling type comic characters or more serious roles?

Well, comedy is always fun to do, but at the same time, it could be very frustrating. You really have to get it just right. But when you do and you know it clicks, that's the best. The serious roles are great to do in a whole different way. To feel that emotion in a tough scene, take after take, is very grueling. But at the same time, when you've been worn down and you feel like you have nothing else to give, that's usually the best take.

Have to ask about Enterprise. Do you have any anecdotes from working on that series with Scott Bakula?

Star Trek: Enterprise—I tell ya. Four hours of make-up and hair sitting in a chair without moving. Fun.

What’s next for David Youse?

I've been offered a play here in Los Angeles that starts rehearsing in early September, with an opening the following month. I haven't said yes yet, but that's looking pretty good right now—at least today.

The Neighbor is playing a limited engagement in Los Angeles at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 until August 22.

Click here for the movie’s official web site.

-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com

IF IT'S NOT TUESDAY, IT MUST BE YVETTE, CAROL OR DIANE

BY TOM LISANTI

From 1959 to 1964 blonde nymphets, in the tradition of the thumb-sucking Carroll Baker in Baby Doll, ruled the silver screen. Two of the most popular with teenage audiences were Sandra Dee and Connie Stevens but the four with the most potential to become important actresses and who always seemed on the verge of major stardom were Yvette Mimieux, Carol Lynley, Tuesday Weld, and Diane McBain. These scintillating starlets molded in the image of the flaxen-haired, pony-tailed Barbie Doll released during this time were interchangeable as a litter of kittens. Glancing at movie magazines of the time, you barely could tell one from the other. But these baby doll blondes had to grow up and when they did surprisingly none of them became super stars as poor choices, typecasting, and just sheer bad luck hurt their careers.

Once described as a “princess come to life” Yvette Mimieux excelled playing the fragile beauty who seemed to be always on the verge of a breakdown (a vacationing coed who goes all the way in Where the Boys Are, 1960; a mentally disturbed beauty in A Light in the Piazza, 1962; a rich girl in love with an Hawaiian beach boy in Diamond Head, 1963; and the wife of a struggling law student in Joy in the Morning, 1965) or fantasy figure come to life (one of the Enui in The Time Machine, 1960; a princess in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, 1962). By the late Sixties/early Seventies she graduated to playing “the girl” in a number of popular adventure movies including The Caper of the Golden Bulls (1967), Dark of the Sun (1968), Skyjacked (1972), The Neptune Factor (1973) while working steadily on TV. Perhaps tired of being typecast, she wrote and starred as The Hit Lady for TV and then played a rape victim who seeks revenge in the violent and popular drive-in hit, Jackson County Jail (1975), which sustained her leading lady status into the Eighties.

Carol Lynley, who was once described as having “beauty that is awe inspiring,” began playing the good girl (a pregnant unwed teen in Blue Denim, 1959; aspiring author Allison MacKenzie in Return to Peyton Place, 1961) before going the sex kitten route (a coed living platonically with her boyfriend in Under the Yum Yum Tree, 1963; one of three girls looking for romance in The Pleasure Seekers, 1964). She progressed to more adult roles as a harried young mother searching for her misplaced daughter who may or may not exist in the cult classic Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) and a young woman who inherits an old mill complete with a hideous thing in the attic in The Shuttered Room (1967). Her excellent performances typed her as the damsel-in-distress though she essayed the role of a psychopathic heiress in Once You Kiss a Stranger (1969). Lynley unwisely turned down Five Easy Pieces in 1970 (“They were only paying scale”) and despite a banner 1972—she began it playing reporter Darren McGavin’s girlfriend in the highest rated TV-movie up to that point in The Night Stalker and ended the year as the terrified pop singer in the box office champ, The Poseidon Adventure—the remainder of the decade found her unjustly mired in low-budget independent films, TV-movies, and stranded on Fantasy Island.

Tuesday Weld had more of an edge to her than Mimieux and Lynley, and in keeping with her real life wild child persona see-sawed back and forth between the mischievous hormonal teenager (Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys, 1959; Bachelor Flat, 1962; Soldier in the Rain, 1963; I’ll Take Sweden, 1965); the tramp (Wild in the Country, 1961); and the self-absorbed sex kitten (Lord Love a Duck, 1966). Weld undoubtedly could have become a superstar but she famously turned down Lolita (“I don’t have to play Lolita—I am Lolita!”) and backed out of Bonnie and Clyde due to pregnancy. After playing a murderous psychopath to great effect in the little-seen Pretty Poison (1968), she turned down in quick succession True Grit, Cactus Flower, and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice once again assuring that she would never be known to the masses. In the Seventies she kept working steadily in studio productions (Play It As It Lays won her kudos in 1972) and even received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting turn as Diane Keaton’s sister in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) but never appeared in a box office smash though by the Eighties she was still copping leads opposite major stars in big movies—Thief (1981) with James Caan; Author! Author! (1982) with Al Pacino; and Once Upon a Time in America (1984) with Robert De Niro.

While Yvette, Carol and Tuesday all essayed the good girl roles, Diane McBain seem to be always cast as the sophisticate or spoiled rich girl who never got her man (Parrish, 1961; Mary, Mary, 1963; A Distant Trumpet, 1964; Spinout, 1966.) As Southern tramp Claudelle Inglish (1961), she not only lost her true love but wound up with a stomach pumped full of buckshot by an irate father. Though McBain brought a vulnerability to these characters and made the audience empathize with them, they typed her almost forever as the bitch. As she matured her roles got even badder—a dope dealing high school teacher in Maryjane and a tough-talking biker chick in The Mini-Skirt Mob—and her films cheaper. By the end of the decade, McBain was still being outshined by her three contemporaries even playing second fiddle to Mimieux in The Delta Factor (1970). Never able to arise from low-budget exploitation movies, the Seventies found her talent wasted in Grade-Z productions (Wicked, Wicked, 1973; The Deathhead Virgin, 1974), the occasional TV-movie, and lots of television guest roles.

-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com

I

BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT: MARILYN MASON RETURNS TO THE SCREEN WITH MODEL RULES

Interview by Tom Lisanti

Actress Marlyn Mason, best remembered as Elvis’ leading lady in The Trouble with Girls (1969) and James Franciscus’ trusty assistant/companion on TV’s Longstreet (1971-72), has come out of a self-imposed 10-year retirement to star in Model Rules (2008) a short film directed by Ray Robison that she also produced and wrote on location in Medford, Oregon where she has been residing these past few years. In it she plays an aging artist's model who envisages being with one of the men sketching her.

The movie came from an idea Marlyn had after researching what it took to become a real life artist’s model back in 2004. She shelved the proposal but when a friend suggested she enter a Fiction Writing contest, a former writing partner, comedian Vince Valenzuela, reminded her about becoming an artist’s model and thought that would make a better story.

Warmly received, Model Rules was accepted into The Rhode Island Int'l Film Festival (Aug. 5 - 10) and the Los Angeles Int'l Short Festival (Aug. 15 - 21). If you live in any of those cities go see it! Click here to access the web site chock full of production stills.

With her big blue-green eyes and button nose, Marlyn Mason (no connection to rock star Marilyn Manson, thank you) was an unconventional beauty who had the talent to play comedy and drama to good effect. Being an extremely versatile performer, she was a much sought after TV actress playing a variety of roles on all the top series from the Sixties through the Eighties but made the most impression on spy fans with her guest stints on I Spy, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible, and Matt Helm. Mason also proved to be a more than competent singer and dancer on two TV musical specials with Robert Goulet (Brigadoon and Carousel) and on Broadway in How Now Dow Jones. Her singing and dancing prowess was finally put to good use on the big screen when she won her lead role opposite Elvis. Two years later, a daring Marlyn bared more than her talent as the older woman who seduces one of her husband’s students (Kristoffer Tabori) in the youth-oriented comedy, Making It (1971) and then played the neighbor who falls for Hal Holbrook unaware that he is gay in the groundbreaking TV movie That Certain Summer (1972). Her last credit prior to Model Rules was the TV movie Fifteen and Pregnant (1998).

How long did it take you to write Model Rules?

When I finished our conversation [with Vince Valenzuela], I turned on the computer, stared at it and forty-five minutes later had written a 488 word piece that I titled Model Rules. Had it not been for Vince's reminding me of my idea it would not exist today and I would not be enjoying a surge in my otherwise slumbering career. Not bad at 68!

So how did it go from short story to short film?

My neighbor Janet Jamieson loved it, which encouraged me to send it to a local film maker, Ray Robison. He called and said "I want to do this". "Me, too", I replied. And so began the life of Model Rules. Ray brought together twenty-one volunteers to act as artists and crew.

So you never actually worked as an artist’s model while in Oregon?

No, so I found artist Robert M. Paulmenn who suggested I do a posing session before filming. Afterwards he said, "I can't teach you anything. You're a natural"! That was an enormous ego feed for this old broad! Needing several real artists for visual purposes Robert was delighted to be cast along with artist Greeley Welles and sculptor Michael Isaacson.

How long did it take to shoot?

It took us two days and one evening to film. The Rogue Gallery in Medford, Oregon gave us the space and art equipment to use, which saved us a good amount. Half of the movie is shot in my own little hut, also in Medford.

Did the movie turn out as you envisioned?

When I put Model Rules into the hands of Ray Robison I told him it was his to do with as he wished. I would not interfere. He welcomed suggestions and mine were less than few. I became the actress, doing as I was asked, never looking at the monitor. Weeks later when Ray showed me the rough cut I was stunned. With Director of Photography, Kenn Christenson, Ray put together exactly what I had pictured when I created the story. Ray also found exquisite pieces by composers Kevin MacLeod and Justin R. Durban. It was just good luck that Ray and I were on the same wave length visually and that Kenn was able to translate what we wanted, a French art film, of sorts. And wouldn’t you know, my “natural” talents are now put to good use; on occasion I’m asked to pose for nude workshops!

Read more about Marlyn Mason’s movie and TV career in my book Drive-in Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-Movie Starlets of the Sixties.

-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com

By Tom Lisanti

Gays are always fashionably late, and I am no exception, as I pay tribute to that cult classic The Gay Deceivers long after Gay Pride month as come and gone. Released in 1969, this daring-for-its time comedy starred boyish Kevin Coughlin as Danny a preppy 22 year-old with a steady girlfriend (Brooke Bundy) and handsome Larry Casey as Elliot a ladies man and lifeguard who get drafted. To avoid being sent to Vietnam, the friends pretend to be lovers who desperately want to serve their country. Their ruse works and they are denied entry but knowing the army officer (Jack Starrett) at the draft board will be watching, the duo shack up in a one bedroom apartment in a swinging gay complex and try to convince their landlord Malcolm (Michael Greer), his partner (Sebastian Brook), and the resident stud (Christopher Riordan) that they are homosexuals while keeping Danny’s family and Elliot’s paramours in the dark. But things get thorny especially when Elliot, at the landlord’s costume party, takes a woman to bed not realizing it’s a guy in drag. A frustrated drunken Elliot then starts a fight in a gay bar, which is witnessed by Danny and his unsuspecting girlfriend leading to further complications and a surprise ending.

Viewing the film nowadays, The Gay Deceivers (produced by Joe Solomon and directed by Bruce Kessler) is a bit dated with stereotypical gay characters and plays like an elongated episode of Love, American Style. But in its time this was very daring and trail blazing. Director Bruce Kessler takes a sincere approach and knows his audience even giving them glimpses of blonde Larry Casey’s fine naked behind. With the hubbub today about gay marriage, it is quite surprising that for a movie made in the late Sixties Greer and Brook‘s relationship is treated respectfully and not poked fun at. They come off as the typical wacky married next-door-neighbors found on any TV sitcom at the time. Even the gay bar scene is toned down and not played over-the-top. The actors all do a surprisingly good job but Greer’s flamboyant queen act becomes tiresome after about five minutes.

Actor Christopher Riordan who plays Duane was a busy dancing actor throughout the Sixties. A single father, he took job after job to earn a living to support his son. Extremely handsome with an All-American look and persona, Riordan appeared in practically every beach and Elvis movie from 1964 through 1967 while juggling bit roles in big budget studio productions and TV shows. The widely varied films he worked on during this period include Viva Las Vegas, My Fair Lady, Get Yourself a College Girl, A Swingin’ Summer, The Girls on the Beach, Von Ryan’s Express, Ski Party, The Loved One, Tickle Me, The Glory Guys, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Village of the Giants, Made in Paris, The Glass Bottom Boat, Hot Rods to Hell, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Clambake, and Camelot. His dancing prowess got him noticed especially when Fred Astaire hand picked him to dance with Barrie Chase on TV’s The Hollywood Palace. This led Christopher to being also being hired as assistant choreographer on a number of movies. However, as was the way back then, he rarely received screen credit though he finally got on-screen recognition for Fireball 500.

By the late Sixties, Riordan had outlasted a number of the dancing beach boys and directors began casting him in bigger roles due to his talent and professionalism. The Gay Deceivers in 1969 was the first followed by Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and The Curious Female. Christopher is still working today. Most recently, he made guest appearances on the TV comedies House of Carters and Ugly Betty and performs his cabaret act at AIDS benefits in the Los Angeles area.

Frankie Avalon (Todd Armstrong/ Jane), Dwayne Hickman (Craig Gamble/ Nora), Deborah Walley (Linda Hughes), Yvonne Craig (Barbara Norris), Robert Q. Lewis (Donald Pevney), Bobbi Shaw (Nita), Aron Kincaid (Freddie Carter), The Hondells (Themselves) Steve Rogers (Gene), Patti Chandler (Janet), Mike Nader (Bobby), Salli Sachse (Indian), John Boyer (Ski Boy), Mikki Jamison (Vicki), Mickey Dora (Mickey), Bill Sampson (Arthur), Mary Hughes, Luree Holmes (Ski Girls), Sigi Engl (Ski Instructor). Uncredited: Christopher Riordan, Ronnie Dayton, Jo Collins, Paul Gleason, and Annette Funicello (Prof. Roberts). Guest Stars: James Brown and the Famous Flames, and Lesley Gore.

I thought I'd end my Top 5 Sixties Beach Party movies with a cold treat for these hot summer days. A few films (i.e. Get Yourself a College Girl, Winter a-Go-Go, Wild Wild Winter) switched the locale from the warm California seashore to the chilly mountaintop ski slopes. The best of the crop for me was Ski Party (1965).

Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman play two average college guys, who are losers when it comes to the ladies, so they masquerade as English lasses on a ski trip to discover why their chicks Deborah Walley and Yvonne Craig dig suave ladies man Aron Kincaid and what they really want in a guy. Complications ensue when the pompous Kincaid falls in love with Hickman's female incarnation. Meanwhile, when not romping around in drag, Avalon tries to make Walley jealous by flirting with Swedish bombshell Bobbi Shaw. The first half of the picture unfolds quite briskly with excellent musical numbers performed by Avalon, James Brown, and Lesley Gore though the second half bogs down a bit with a ludicrous ski jump contest and an overlong chase sequence, standard for these AIP musical comedies.

Ski Party stands out from the rest of the AIP beach-party movies not only because of the change in locale but because of the superior production values. Credit must go to producer Gene Corman and his crew. The film is exquisitely filmed on location with some awesome ski shots. Alan Rafkin also does a first-rate job of directing and keeps the action moving. He brings some originality to the musical numbers as well. Having Frankie Avalon, Deborah Walley, Dwayne Hickman, and Yvonne Craig sing "Painting the Town" while on a sunlit sleigh ride helps elevate the song with the beautiful shots of the foursome traveling through the snow-covered back roads. “Lots Lots More" would just have been a standard song warbled by Frankie Avalon with twistin’ beach babes dancing beside him if it were not for Rafkin’s unusual camera angles capturing the curvy features of Walley, Patti Chandler, Mikki Jamison, and Jo Collins.

The musical performances by the guest stars are the standouts of any AIP beach movie. Here it is no exception. Lesley Gore sings the catchy "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" on the bus ride to Sun Valley. Following the release of Ski Party, the song became a hit and peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard charts. The Hondells turn up on the beach and rock on "The Gasser" and the title song. Finally, the appearance of James Brown and the Flames who come in out of the snow to perform their Top 10 record "I Got You (I Feel Good)" is truly one of the greatest musical moments in beach movie history.

Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman are well paired as the wisecracking losers-in-love Todd and Craig and are very believable and amusing as the peppery English lasses, Jane and Nora. As the objects of their devotion, Deborah Walley and Yvonne Craig are only okay but they look stunning in Technicolor making it perfetly plausible to the audience why the boys would go to so much trouble to win them over. Bobbi Shaw is engaging as a sexy Swede who decides she prefers love, American style. It is nice to see AIP contract players Patti Chandler and Salli Sachse given more to do here than in the Beach Party movies. They along with Luree Holmes, Mikki Jamison, and Playboy Playmate Jo Collins look very good in their bathing suits or tight-fitting ski clothes. For beefcake watchers, there’s lean boyish-looking Mike Nader and handsome, chiseled Steve Rogers. But it is the smarmy charm of Aron Kincaid (pictured above surrounded by a bevy of beauties) as the pompous Freddie who flips for a guy in drag who steals the movie. Usually clad in dark sweaters and turtlenecks (which were a perfect contrast to his blonde hair and fair features), Kincaid is striking looking and awes every girl on screen and every girl in the audience (not to mention a boy or two).

Ski Party is available on DVD and I heartily recommend it!

-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com

Click here to order the DVD from Amazon

CINEMA RETRO COLUMNIST TOM LISANTI RELIVES THE MIXED PLEASURES OF ELVIS PRESLEY'S 1965 HIT GIRL HAPPY

Elvis Presley (Rusty Wells), Shelley Fabares (Valerie), Harold J. Stone (Big Frank), Gary Crosby (Andy), Joby Baker (Wilbur), Nita Talbot (Sunny Daze), Mary Ann Mobley (Deena), Fabrizio Mioni (Romano), Jimmy Hawkins (Doc), Jackie Coogan (Sergeant Benson), Peter Brooks (Brentwood Von Durgenfeld), John Fielder (Mr. Penchill), Chris Noel (Betsy), Lyn Edgington (Laurie), Gail Gilmore (Nancy), Pamela Curran (Bobbie), Rusty Allen (Linda), George Cisar (Bartender at the Kit Kat Club), Nancy Czar (Blonde on the Beach), Jim Dawson (Muscle Boy), Mike De Anda (Burt), Darren Dublin (Driver), Tommy Farrell (Louie), Ted Fish (Garbage Man), Milton Frome (Police Captain), Norman Grabowski (‘Wolf Call’ O’Brien), Dan Haggerty (Charlie), Alan Hanley (Waiter #1), Ralph Lee (Officer Jones), Richard Reeves (Officer Wilkins), Olan Soule (Waiter #2). Not credited: Lori Williams, Beverly Adams, Theresa Cooper, Stasa Damascus, Hank Jones, Kent McCord, Julie Payne (College Boys and Girls).

Continuing with my Sixties Hollywood surf movie survey, it seems everyone tried to cash in on AIP’s Beach Party during 1964-1966 even Elvis Presley who starred in the Spring Break musical, Girl Happy.

Produced by Joe Pasternak for MGM, Girl Happy was a combination of the studio’s Where the Boys Are and Beach Party. Elvis along with his band members Joby Baker, Gary Crosby, and Jimmy Hawkins are sent on spring break in Fort Lauderdale to secretly chaperone coed Shelley Fabares, the daughter of tough club owner Harold J. Stone, and other two nubile friends, Chris Noel and Lyn Edgington. Elvis thinks he hooks Fabares up with safe bookworm Peter Brooks and can enjoy his time in the sun. But every time Elvis gets cozy with sultry Mary Ann Mobley in a park or his hotel room, Fabares winds up in some sort of predicament like getting drunk with amorous Italian playboy Fabrizio Mioni. Elvis and his troupe have to abandon their girls and rush to her rescue. Trying not to make the trip a total disaster, Elvis volunteers to “court” Fabares to keep her away from Mioni. Naturally, he falls for Shelley but when she learns about his deal with her father, she gets plastered again and does a striptease at a club, which leads to her arrest and a stint in the big doll house. Elvis, of course, comes to Shelley’s rescue and they both confess their love to each other. You didn’t expect it to end any other way now did you?

Compared to the Frankie & Annette films of this genre, Girl Happy is severely landlocked. Despite the ad campaign, there aren’t many scenes on the beach. In fact, Elvis is seen on the seashore only briefly in a montage sequence and a nighttime production number where he sings “Do the Clam” on a makeshift sand dune. On its own however Girl Happy is pleasant fare and one Elvis’ better post-Viva Las Vegas movies despite its wafer-thin plot. Though filmed mainly on the back lot, the colorful production is first rate, the action never lets up, and the film has that glossy vibrant MGM sheen to it. Director Boris Sagal keeps the story moving briskly and surrounds Elvis with a perky, talented supporting cast including standouts Jimmy Hawkins as naïve Doc and Mary Ann Mobley as a frustrated vixen. Presley seems comfortable with his role and plays it breezily. He and Shelley Fabares make a charming couple and have a few tender scenes together.

Though this is a supposed beach movie where the flesh should be on display, Elvis, sporting a fit and trim physique, is never seen in shorts or a bathing suit! The film features a number of handsome actors all who remain covered up. Not so for the gals though as Girl Happy lives up to its title. There is an array of bikini-clad cuties on display from the leads Shelley Fabares and Mary Ann Mobley to the featured performers Chris Noel and Lyn Edgington to bit players Nancy Czar, a knockout in a leopard print bikini, and Gail Gilmore a.k.a Gail Gerber.

The popular soundtrack is one of the King’s most varied and best from this time period. From the touching “Puppet on a String” to the swinging “Do the Clam” to the romantic “Do Not Disturb” the songs help buoy the movie and make it fun for Elvis’ core audience. But despite the enjoyable soundtrack, Elvis at his mid-sixties peak, and a bevy of gorgeous bikini girls, hardcore beach party fans may still want to skip this one. For everybody else, Girl Happy is available on DVD and can be ordered by clicking here.

-Tom Lisanti/www.sixtiescinema.com

Look for my new book Trippin’ with Terry Southern: What I Think I Remember, A Memoir by Gail Gerber, with Tom Lisanti next spring

RIDE THE WILD SURF (1964)

Fabian (Jody Wallis), Shelley Fabares (Brie Matthews), Tab Hunter (Steamer Lane), Barbara Eden (Augie Poole), Peter Brown (Chase Colton), Anthony Hayes (Frank Decker), Susan Hart (Lily), James Mitchum (Eskimo), Catherine McLeod (Mrs. Kilua), Murray Rose (Swag), Roger Davis (Charlie), Robert Kenneally (Russ), Paul Tremaine (Vic), Alan LeBuse (Phil), John Kennell (TV Commentator), David Cadiente (Ally), Yanqui Chang (Mr. Chin).

Ride the Wild Surf stands head and shoulders above all the sixties beach-party movies. This was an earnest and ambitious attempt by Hollywood to capture the surf culture and what attracted young men to the sport. There are no singing surfers or goofy motorcycle gang members in this film as it opens with a narrator explaining why young men from all over the world come to Hawaii to surf. Then the wave action takes over never letting up making Ride the Wild Surf the best Hollywood surf movie of the sixties. Kudos to a excellent cast, stunning photography by Joseph Biroc, and one of the all-time best pop surf songs “Ride the Wild Surf” sung by Jan and Dean over the closing credits.

Fabian, Tab Hunter, and Peter Brown play surfers who travel to Hawaii to conquer the big waves at Waimea Bay and in the process take a step to becoming more mature adults. They also find romance with, respectively, Shelley Fabares, Susan Hart, and Barbara Eden. The film makes an honorable effort to portray surfers and the sport of surfing sincerely and to showcase the big waves of the North Shore of Hawaii. Though the story line to drape the incredible surfing action around is thin, the screenplay is peppered with some sharp and hip dialog while all the actors play their roles believably. Peter Brown and Barbara Eden are the most interesting couple as Eden’s perky lovelorn auburn-haired tomboy tries to melt the veneer off of Brown’s uptight college boy. Susan Hart, a local beauty with an overly protective mother, and wannabe pro surfer Tab Hunter make the most handsome duo though a blonde Shelley Fabares as a vacationing coed and the usually shirtless Fabian as a college dropout turned surf bum give them a run for the money. Jim Mitchum, who is the splitting image of his dad Robert Mitchum, makes a quietly menacing heavy. The movie is a smorgasbord of flesh as the boys are all tanned and muscled and the girls are curvaceous and bikini-clad.

Though handsome Fabian, Tab Hunter, and Peter Brown pursue beach babes when not in the water there is also a surprisingly strong “homo-erotic undercurrent” throughout. The scenes of these barechested surfers bonding or comforting each other while tackling the huge waves of Waimea Bay and the gals are nowhere in sight have become gay porn staples.

Ride the Wild Surf really excels showing what it takes to be a top-notch surfer and to challenge the big waves of Hawaii. Joseph Biroc expertly filmed real surfers including Mickey Dora, Greg Noll, and and Butch Van Artsdalen challenging the big waves at Banzai Pipeline, Sunset Beach, and Haleiwa. This footage is spread generously throughout the film climaxing with big wave thrills at the “King of the Mountain” contest at Waimea Bay. It is by far the most exciting and best surfing sequences in any Hollywood surf movie of the sixties. However, some of the scenes of the actors on their boards were filmed in a studio tank where one minute the water is like a sheet of glass and then all of a sudden it cuts to huge swells that come out of nowhere.

The shots around the island of Oahu are stunningly picturesque especially the scenes at Waimea Falls. The movie captures the beauty of the islands spectacularly. Trying to distance itself from the beach-party films there are no musical guest acts only Jan and Dean singing the hit title song over the end credits. Broadcast infrequently, Ride the Wild Surf thankfully is available on DVD.

Click here to watch the original trailer

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For my second beach movie review, I picked what I think is the best of the Frankie and Annette beach-party musicals, Beach Blanket Bingo:

BEACH BLANKET BINGO (1965)

Frankie Avalon (Frankie), Annette Funicello (Dee Dee), Deborah Walley (Bonnie Graham), Harvey Lembeck (Eric Von Zipper), John Ashley (Steve Gordon), Jody McCrea (Bonehead), Donna Loren (Donna), Marta Kristen (Lorelei), Linda Evans (Sugar Kane), Timothy Carey (South Dakota Slim), Don Rickles (Big Drop), Paul Lynde (Bullets), Buster Keaton (Himself), Earl Wilson (Himself), Bobbi Shaw (Bobbi), Donna Michelle (Animal), Mike Nader (Butch), Patti Chandler (Patti), Andy Romano, Alan Fife, Jerry Brutsche, John Macchia, Bob Harvey, Alberta Nelson, Myrna Ross (Rat Pack), Ed Garner, Guy Hemric, Duane Ament, Ray Atkinson, Brian Wilson, Mickey Dora, Ned Wynn, Frank Alesia, Phil Henderson, Johnny Fain, Ronnie Dayton (Beach Boys), Linda Benson, Mary Hughes, Salli Sachse, Linda Merrill, Luree Holmes, Laura Nicholson, Linda Bent, Chris Cranston, Mary Sturdevant, Judy Lescher, Pat Bryton, Pam Colbert, Dessica Giles, Stephanie Nader, Jo Ann Zerfas (Beach Girls). Guest stars: The Hondells.

In the immortal words of Eric Von Zipper, Beach Blanket Bingo is “nifty.” It is the best, the zaniest, the quirkiest, and most fondly remembered of the Frankie and Annette fun-in-the-sun teenage epics. Admittedly, the story centering on Dee Dee proving to Frankie that girls can sky dive as well as boys while vying for him with a redheaded tease, Bonehead falling in love with a mermaid, and a beautiful singer kidnapped by Von Zipper’s biker gang is far-fetched. But it contains some very funny lines mostly delivered by Don Rickles as Big Drop and Paul Lynde as an acid-tongued press agent whose verbal sparring with Avalon is one of the movie’s highlights. Lots of colorful beach scenes are intermingled with stock sky diving shots. All your AIP favorite stars are here, the songs are bouncy and light, an array of guest comics provides some of the series’ funniest moments, and a bevy of beautiful blondes enhance the action.

Frankie delivers one of his most amusing performances but poor Annette who proved she could act in Muscle Beach Party really has nothing much to do, as her character seems resigned to the fact that her boyfriend has a roving eye. Deborah Walley, usually cast as the good girl, surprises as a vixen who uses Frankie to make her boyfriend John Ashley jealous. Jody McCrea finally gets to stretch his acting muscle as Bonehead and his scenes with Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson on Lost in Space) as a mermaid are touching and bittersweet. Linda Evans is darling as the naïve Sugar Kane and stands out whenever she dons a bikini. It is these two sexy blondes along with Playboy Playmate Donna Michelle as man-hungry Animal and the rest of the bikini-clad beach girls that make Beach Blanket Bingo a winner with girl watchers. For boy watchers it is the same old crew but at least shirtless surfer boys Mike Nader and Johnny Fain get lots more screen time and even raise an eyebrow or two when Nader inserts a frankfurter into the eager waiting mouth of Fain while Donna Loren sings about an unrequited love. Scenes like that make me want to go hmmmmmmmm.

Another big plus for Beach Blanket Bingo is the music score. The songs are some of the best from the series beginning with the title song—the grandest opening number of all the beach-party movies. The up tempo tune is sung in such a light and bouncy manner by Frankie and Annette that you can’t but help want to jump to your feet and dance along. They also do well with their second duet, the popular “I Think, You Think.” Pretty Donna Loren expertly belts out the heart wrenching “It Only Hurts When I Cry” and The Hondells rock out on “The Cycle Set.” Every beach-party movie has one clunker and in Beach Blanket Bingo it is “These Are the Good Times” crooned by Avalon as if it were 1950 rather than 1965.

On the down side, as with most of the beach-party movies, Beach Blanket Bingo does not do surfers any justice and doesn’t even bother to insert any stock surfing footage. The other wrong note in the film is John Ashley. After playing Frankie’s buddy Johnny in Beach Party, Muscle Beach Party, and Bikini Beach, his being cast as Avalon’s jealous rival Steve throws off the continuity of the series. But despite its minor flaws, Beach Blanket Bingo is the apex of the beach movie genre. However, little did anyone know at the time that this would be the last beach pairing of Frankie and Annette (Frankie only makes a cameo appearance in the next film, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini). Thankfully, Beach Blanket Bingo (as well as all the AIP beach movies) is available on DVD and turn up frequently on Turner Classic Movies.

For more about me and my books, visit my web site www.sixtiescinema.com.

- Tom Lisanti

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Since I hate winter and am looking so forward to the start of spring I thought I would do a bi-weekly feature on my favorite '60s beach movies to help get us in the mood for the balmy weather ahead. First up:

BEACH BALL (1965)

Edd Byrnes (Dick Martin), Chris Noel (Susan), Robert Logan (Bango), Aron Kincaid (Jack), Mikki Jamison (Augusta), Don Edmonds (Bob), Brenda Benet (Samantha), Gail Gilmore (Deborah), James Wellman (Bernard Wolf), Anna Lavelle (Polly), Dick Miller (Police Officer #1), Lee Krieger, Jack Bernardi (Mr. Wilk), Bill Sampson (Announcer), John Hyden (Police Officer #2), Rita D’Amico (Wendy). Also: Lee Krieger. Guest Stars: The Supremes, The Four Seasons, The Righteous Brothers, The Hondells, and The Walker Brothers. Not credited: Bart Patton, Sid Haig, Ron Russell, and Brian Cutler.

Beach Ball (one of two beach films financed by Roger Corman) was the last surf movie to be released in 1965 and it was one of the best. The producing-directing team of Bart Patton and Lennie Weinrib adapted the AIP formula to good effect. Four college dropouts living at the beach (Edd Byrnes, Aron Kincaid, Robert Logan, and Don Edmonds) secure a student loan for tribal music studies when in fact they need the money to pay for their rock group’s instruments about to be repossessed. When the brainy girls at the college union (Chris Noel, Gail Gilmore, Brenda Benet, and Mikki Jamison) realize that they have been bamboozled, they rip up the check, remove their eyeglasses, tease their hair and head for the beach to try to entice the guys to return to school.

Despite the drubbing from the critics and some beach movie fans it received when released, Beach Ball is arguably the breeziest and most enjoyable of the Beach Party clones. It is also the most blatant rip off throwing in everything from surfing, skydiving, and hot rodding to a battle-of-the-bands contest and the guys in drag to match the zaniness of the AIP beach movies. The film works well because it is fast-paced, nicely photographed in color, has some funny moments, lots of beach scenes, a healthy-looking cast, and an excellent roster of musical performers most notably the Supremes, the Righteous Brothers, and The Four Seasons who are interspersed throughout the movie.

As for the cast, unlike Annette Funicello in the Beach Party movies or Noreen Corcoran in The Girls on the Beach, perky Chris Noel and the other girls are not afraid to show off their shapely figures in very revealing bikinis. Pretty blonde Anna Lavelle in particular dons the skimpiest swim suits and has some funny moments as the guy’s addled-brained beach groupie Polly. The movie boasts perhaps the most curvaceous set of lead actresses in any surf movie from the decade. For boy watchers, the guys’ sport nice physiques particularly handsome Robert Logan and blonde Aron Kincaid who gives a droll performance as ladies man, Jack. Edd Byrnes is definitely too long in the tooth to make a believable college guy but he does look swell in his swim trunks.

Surfing is limited to the opening stock footage of surfers riding huge swells and as with most beach-party movies when the actors emerge from the ocean it is calm without a big wave in sight. There are however plenty of scenes of the gang frolicking on the beach. A scene with the kids playing “Keep Away” with a football on the shore is nicely photographed and scored. The film’s major asset is the music from the catchy instrumental entitled “Cycle Chase” heard throughout to the songs lip-synched by Kincaid and the others as the Wigglers to all of the numbers performed by the rock acts. The standout is definitely seeing the Supremes singing “Come to the Beach Ball with Me” and “Surfer Boy.” Though the Motown songwriters did not come close to capturing the authentic surf sound (hell they were from Detroit and what did they know about surfing anyway?), the girls sing the catchy tunes well. Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson look great but Diana Ross is a fright with her chipped tooth and big beehive wig. Her close-ups are truly scarier than anything found in The Horror of Party Beach—another reason why Beach Ball is a must to see. Though unfortunately it is not available on DVD and is rarely shown on TV anymore but may pop up once in a blue moon on American Movie Classics. Catch it if you can.- Tom Listanti

For more about Tom Lisanti and the film books he has written, visit his web site www.sixtiescinema.com.